It's hot and we've been working for a long time on campaigns. So, it's a good time for a party! You are invited to a Newton Dems happy hour at Mick Morgan's pub, 118 Needham Street in Newton, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm on Sunday, August 4th. We'll have a bar and appetizers and a chance to celebrate our achievements over the past year and prepare for next year's statewide elections.

Proceeds will benefit the 2014 Newton Dems campaign victory fund. This will help support our campaign activities to elect a Democratic governor, re-elect Senator Markey and ensure that our statewide office all remain blue.

DA Marian RyanMarian T. Ryan, who was named ­Middlesex district attorney Tuesday, is not ­only familiar with violent crime from her three decades as a prosecutor. She is herself a survivor.

On Oct. 2, 1980, Ryan was sitting in her boyfriend’s car on Memorial Drive in ­Cambridge when two men approached. When one man tried to yank open the door and pull Ryan out, her boyfriend, Edward T. Bigham III, pushed her back into the seat. In the ensuing struggle, Bigham, a 28-year-old prosecutor, was shot in the chest and killed. Ryan, then a 25-year-old prosecutor, was so close to the pistol she had gunpowder burns on her face.

In the years since, Ryan has testified against the killer’s ­release at Parole Board hearings and has objected to his ­requests to be transferred to a minimum-security prison.

“That was really a life-altering experience that gave me a lot more breadth and depth in being a prosecutor, and I think that has been a benefit to the way I prosecute cases,” she said in an interview Tuesday.

In choosing Ryan, Governor Deval Patrick turned to a woman with 34 years of experience in the office, but who has never run for elected office.

Nevertheless, Ryan, a 58-year-old Belmont Democrat, said Tuesday that she intends to seek a full four-year term as Middlesex district attorney when an election is held for the seat in fall 2014.

She is filling a vacancy created by the resignation of Gerard T. Leone Jr., her former boss, who joined a private law firm earlier this month.

“It is my hope to be in the seat for a long time,” said Ryan, who was most recently the ­office’s general counsel and chief of its Elder and Disabled Unit. Asked about her lack of political experience, she said, “I think I can learn that,” and added, “I’m looking forward to that. I like the public outreach.”

The job has traditionally been a launching pad to statewide office.

Previous district attorneys in Middlesex County include Scott Harshbarger, Thomas F. Reilly, and Martha Coakley, all of whom were later elected attor­ney general of Massachusetts. Ryan would not comment on aspirations she might have for higher office, pointing out with a laugh that she had only been sworn in as district attorney three hours earlier.

Regular meeting of the Newton Dems executive committee (city and ward officers). Come and join the discussion about the future of the Democratic Party in Newton and beyond. All are welcome to attend this meeting.